Surviving the Apocalypse With My Yandere Ex-Girlfriend

Chapter 228: And so it begins

Reta’s shoulder slid back into its socket with a wet, nauseating pop.

She rolled it once.

Twice.

A satisfied smile crept across her face.

"There we go..."

Purple bruises stretched across her collarbone where Lila had nearly caved it in. Fresh cuts crossed her cheek. Blood had dried beneath one nostril despite someone’s obvious attempt to clean her up. Her clothes had been washed as best they could, but crimson stains still clung stubbornly to the fabric.

She looked like she’d walked through hell.

Judging by the smile on her face...

She’d enjoyed every second of it.

The compound gates groaned open.

Nobody questioned her.

Nobody stopped her.

Workers continued carrying lumber.

Others reinforced fencing before the coming winter buried everything beneath snow.

Intelligent infected crossed paths with baseline infected without so much as a second glance.

It functioned.

Orderly.

Almost peaceful.

Reta twirled a knife between her fingers as she walked.

Round and round.

The blade caught the afternoon light.

Blood still coated the edge.

Her blood.

Lila’s knife.

She hadn’t cleaned it.

She hadn’t sharpened it.

She hadn’t even wrapped it.

She carried it openly.

Almost proudly.

Like a trophy.

Like proof.

The rhythmic scrape of a hoe against frozen soil paused.

Carl looked up.

Only for a second.

Their eyes met.

Red met brown.

Reta smiled.

Not kindly.

Not cruelly.

Knowingly.

Carl immediately looked back down.

His stomach tightened.

His breathing slowed.

The knife...

His grip around the hoe tightened unconsciously.

He knew that knife.

He’d seen Lila cleaning it countless times by campfires.

She always sharpened one side more than the other.

There was a tiny chip near the guard where she’d struck concrete months ago.

Even beneath the blood...

He recognized it.

His mouth suddenly felt dry.

No...

No...

His heartbeat quickened.

That couldn’t be Lila’s knife.

Could it?

His gaze lifted again despite himself.

The chip.

Still there.

His blood ran cold.

Across the yard, Adira noticed him staring.

She followed his eyes.

Saw Reta.

Saw the knife.

Saw Carl’s expression.

She didn’t say a word.

Didn’t need to.

Something had happened.

Something bad.

"BACK TO WORK!"

Reta’s voice cracked across the compound like a whip.

"You people know winter isn’t gonna wait for your feelings."

Nobody answered.

Heads lowered.

Tools moved again.

Carl forced himself to swing the hoe.

Again.

Again.

Again.

But his mind wasn’t in the dirt anymore.

It was hundreds of miles away.

On a woman with blonde hair...

And the boy who refused to leave her.

—

Reta nudged open Miriam’s office door without knocking.

Miriam didn’t bother looking up immediately.

She continued reading through handwritten reports spread across the desk.

Numbers.

Supply counts.

Names.

Conversion statistics.

Only after several seconds did she finally speak.

"You’re late."

"I brought you a present."

That earned her attention.

Reta stepped forward.

Then casually dropped the knife onto the desk.

Metal struck wood with a sharp clink.

Miriam’s eyes drifted downward.

"What is this supposed to—"

The sentence died halfway out of her mouth.

Silence.

Her fingers slowly reached toward the knife.

Almost hesitant.

She picked it up carefully.

Turned it over once.

Examined the blade.

The dried blood.

The handle.

Then...

She brought it closer.

Reta watched with growing amusement as Miriam closed her eyes and inhaled softly through her nose.

A long breath.

When Miriam opened her eyes again...

Something had changed.

Her pupils had dilated.

The crimson in her irises seemed brighter somehow.

Almost glowing.

Her hand trembled.

Just slightly.

Reta noticed immediately.

"...Well."

She folded her arms.

"I wasn’t expecting that reaction."

Miriam didn’t answer.

Her thumb brushed carefully across the dried blood coating the blade.

Not wiping it away.

Feeling it.

Almost...

Listening to it.

Reta’s smile faded a fraction.

"You alright?"

Finally...

Miriam looked up.

Those bright red eyes locked onto Reta.

"Where..."

Her voice came out quieter than usual.

"...did you get this?"

Reta grinned.

"Told you."

"Girl I got into a little disagreement with."

She tapped her own shoulder.

"The one who did this."

Miriam looked back at the knife.

"And get this..."

Reta leaned forward across the desk.

"The boy she was protecting?"

She laughed once.

"Special case."

That phrase finally pulled Miriam completely out of whatever trance she’d fallen into.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly that."

Reta leaned back.

"I’ve seen thousands."

"Never one like him."

"He bit me."

She pointed toward the half-healed wound.

"And nothing happened."

Silence.

"He shouldn’t exist."

Miriam stared at the blade.

Her fingers tightened around the handle.

For the first time in years...

Fear crossed her face.

Not fear for herself.

Fear for something much larger.

"Where are they now?"

Reta didn’t answer.

She only smiled.

Not smugly.

Patiently.

Like someone already confident in how the story ended.

The silence stretched.

Then—

A frantic pounding echoed through the office door.

Neither woman moved.

Another series of desperate knocks followed.

"M-Miriam!"

The voice cracked apart from exhaustion.

"Please!"

One of the guards outside opened the door before being told.

A woman stumbled inside.

She couldn’t have been older than thirty.

Her winter coat hung off one shoulder where the stitching had ripped.

Her boots were caked in frozen mud.

Her cheeks were hollow.

Dark circles sat beneath bloodshot eyes that looked as though they hadn’t slept in weeks.

She held the wrist of a little boy who couldn’t have been older than eight.

He hid behind her immediately upon seeing the room.

His fingers clung desperately to the back of her coat.

The woman fell to her knees before she even reached Miriam’s desk.

"Please..."

Her voice collapsed into sobs.

"I can’t do it anymore."

Miriam slowly set the knife down.

"What happened?"

"The food..."

The woman wiped tears across her face with trembling hands.

"We ran out three days ago."

She looked back toward the boy.

"He hasn’t eaten."

The boy lowered his head.

His lips had turned pale from the cold wind of the upcoming winter.

"I keep hearing them outside at night."

She laughed weakly through tears.

"They just stand there."

Her breathing became uneven.

"They don’t even attack anymore."

"They just... wait."

"I can’t sleep."

"I can’t keep wondering if today’s the day the fences finally break."

Her shoulders shook violently.

"I don’t want to watch him die."

She looked up.

Directly at Miriam.

"...Please."

"We want to convert."

Silence settled over the office.

Even Reta stopped smiling for a moment.

The little boy finally peeked around his mother’s side.

His eyes landed on Miriam.

He looked terrified.

Not of her.

Of the world.

Reta leaned lazily against the wall and folded her arms.

"Well."

She chuckled.

"Looks like your sissy cuck method’s actually working."

Miriam’s head turned slowly.

The look she gave Reta could have frozen fire.

"It isn’t weakness."

Her voice stayed calm.

"It’s mercy."

Reta rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Whatever helps you sleep."

Miriam ignored her.

She stepped around the desk and knelt in front of the mother.

Not towering over her.

Meeting her eyes.

"You understand what you’re asking?"

The woman nodded before Miriam even finished speaking.

"Yes."

"You understand there won’t be another choice afterward."

Another nod.

"I know."

"I just..."

Her voice cracked again.

"...I don’t want him to grow up afraid anymore."

The office became impossibly quiet.

Miriam looked toward the child.

He stared back cautiously.

Still hiding behind his mother.

Still clutching her sleeve.

She offered him a small smile.

Then slowly stood.

"You’ve made the right decision."

The woman broke down completely.

Not in grief.

In relief.

She buried her face into both hands and cried harder than before.

Two attendants quietly entered the office.

Miriam nodded toward them.

"Prepare a room."

"They’ll begin tomorrow."

The attendants gently helped the woman back to her feet.

The little boy never let go of her hand as they left.

Only after the door closed did the room fall silent again.

Reta picked up Lila’s knife from the desk.

Balanced it across one finger.

"You really believe this saves them?"

Miriam looked toward the closed door.

"I know it does."

Reta studied her for another second.

Then casually spun the knife again.

"...Hope you’re right."

Neither woman mentioned Adrian.

Neither woman mentioned Lila.

Neither woman had to.

Outside...

The wind continued blowing

And somewhere beyond that...

The game had already begun.

—

The first bullet shattered the lights above us.

Glass exploded across the floor.

The second ripped through the ceiling.

Concrete dust rained down.

Then the entire facility erupted.

Gunfire.

Shouting.

Alarms.

Someone screamed somewhere down the corridor.

The lights flickered violently before dying altogether.

Darkness swallowed everything.

"Lila!"

She found me before I found her.

Cold fingers wrapped around my wrist.

"There you are."

She pulled hard enough that I nearly lost my footing.

Cold air suddenly struck my face just as fast.

The surface door.

It stood open.

Snow blasted through the opening in violent gusts.

Lila practically dragged me outside.

The blizzard hit like a wall.

Wind tore through my clothes.

Snow stung every inch of exposed skin.

Within seconds my fingertips began going numb.

Then...

Warmth.

It spread beneath my skin.

Not heat.

Adaptation.

Like my body had quietly decided the cold wasn’t worth acknowledging anymore.

I looked down at my hands.

Steam curled faintly from my sleeves.

What...

Lila stumbled.

Her knees buckled.

I caught her before she hit the snow.

She looked exhausted.

Not physically.

Something deeper.

Like whatever she’d done to free me had taken pieces of her with it.

"Easy."

She nodded once.

Then forced herself upright again.

We looked ahead.

Through the endless curtain of snow...

A silhouette stood motionless.

Watching us.

My heartbeat quickened.

Relief bloomed inside my chest.

"Hale...?"

The figure didn’t move.

Didn’t answer.

I took another step.

The silhouette slowly raised one arm.

Something metallic caught what little light remained.

A gun.

The hammer clicked back.

My relief vanished instantly.

We got closer.

Just enough for the snow to stop hiding his face.

Red eyes.

A crooked smile.

Recognition hit me all at once.

"...Callahan."

His grin widened.

"There you are."

—

Back inside the facility...

The emergency lights finally flickered to life.

Everything glowed blood red.

Huxley stood alone in the corridor.

His breathing remained steady despite the chaos surrounding him.

He looked toward the shattered ceiling.

Then toward the open exit.

"They’re gone."

He didn’t sound angry.

Only...

Disappointed.

Footsteps approached behind him.

He turned.

Dr. Josephine stood frozen in the hallway.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly.

Snow drifted in through the still-open surface entrance behind him.

For several long seconds...

Neither of them spoke.

Then Huxley asked quietly—

"That wasn’t the plan."

Josephine swallowed.

She couldn’t deny it.

She didn’t try.

"I know."

Huxley’s jaw tightened.

Around them, alarms continued screaming through the facility.

"They’ll die out there. That cure..—"

"He’s my friend."

Huxley looked at her with a quiet, irritated silence.

Josephine looked toward the open doorway.

Her expression cracked.

Then she looked back at Huxley.

It wasn’t like she was stupid.

She knew the implications.

What would happen regardless of that "cure" being inside him or not.

Jennifer...she knew enough to tell her the likelihood of it being true.

"...I couldn’t allow you to...I couldn’t watch you—"

"Your loyalty to that boy...isn’t something that I expected."

He spoke with complete certainty.

"..."

Something in his voice made Josephine slowly turn back toward him.

His eyes never left the storm beyond the door.

"And it will be that same loyalty that ultimately gets him killed."